This week, I am writing about the importance of one of the eight values of free expression, Protect Dissent. Sounds fancy, I know.
Essentially, it means to make sure even the most unpopular ideas are equally as protected as the most popular ideas. There is no majority rule because every idea should be equally valued and important.
This rule stood out to me because I come from a big family with even bigger personalities. I have two sisters and a brother, and let me tell you... growing up in a family of six is not always easy.
Now, I am going to have to rewind time a little here because my siblings and I are old now, so only my little sister still lives at home. Let's take it back to around 2012 when all four kids were at home and eating a lovely family dinner on a Sunday night.
My older brother is chatting with my dad about how his basketball practice went that day. My mom is humming a new Taylor Swift song that we got stuck in her head. My little sister and I are arguing over whose turn it is to feed the dog. We try to get my brother to pick a side, but he is ignoring us. My mom starts chiming into the basketball practice discussion while simultaneity trying to get my little sister and I to stop arguing.
Is your head spinning yet?
It was always chaos in my family. My mom would prefer to call it "organized chaos," but chaos nonetheless.
During all of this commotion, did you happen to remember that I have three siblings? That's right. I never mentioned my older sister once. This is why the minority opinions matter. My older sister was always too quiet to be heard, and her opinions rarely reached the surface. If she did try to speak up, her modest voice would soon be drowned out by the rest of us.
Just because my older sister was more quiet, doesn't mean her ideas or opinions were any less. They deserved to be heard equally even if unpopular.
This is why I think the Protect Dissent value is so important because I know first hand how unpopular voices can be drowned out. And that just isn't right.
We need to protect all voices no matter how popular or unpopular. I learned from my childhood, and now I watch out for people like my older sister. I try to have their backs and make them feel heard.
Everyone reading this should do the same.
Learn from my crazy family!
Essentially, it means to make sure even the most unpopular ideas are equally as protected as the most popular ideas. There is no majority rule because every idea should be equally valued and important.
This rule stood out to me because I come from a big family with even bigger personalities. I have two sisters and a brother, and let me tell you... growing up in a family of six is not always easy.
Now, I am going to have to rewind time a little here because my siblings and I are old now, so only my little sister still lives at home. Let's take it back to around 2012 when all four kids were at home and eating a lovely family dinner on a Sunday night.
My older brother is chatting with my dad about how his basketball practice went that day. My mom is humming a new Taylor Swift song that we got stuck in her head. My little sister and I are arguing over whose turn it is to feed the dog. We try to get my brother to pick a side, but he is ignoring us. My mom starts chiming into the basketball practice discussion while simultaneity trying to get my little sister and I to stop arguing.
Is your head spinning yet?
 |
| A visual depiction of a very chaotic family dinner (not unlike the one I just described). |
It was always chaos in my family. My mom would prefer to call it "organized chaos," but chaos nonetheless.
During all of this commotion, did you happen to remember that I have three siblings? That's right. I never mentioned my older sister once. This is why the minority opinions matter. My older sister was always too quiet to be heard, and her opinions rarely reached the surface. If she did try to speak up, her modest voice would soon be drowned out by the rest of us.
Just because my older sister was more quiet, doesn't mean her ideas or opinions were any less. They deserved to be heard equally even if unpopular.
This is why I think the Protect Dissent value is so important because I know first hand how unpopular voices can be drowned out. And that just isn't right.
We need to protect all voices no matter how popular or unpopular. I learned from my childhood, and now I watch out for people like my older sister. I try to have their backs and make them feel heard.
Everyone reading this should do the same.
Learn from my crazy family!
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